It is important in the packaging and storage of many materials utilized in medical diagnosis that an ampule or package containing the material be terminally sterilized as by autoclaving prior to its being opened and dosages removed therefrom. This may present a problem where the ampule contains a material such as a radioactive Xenon gas which is used for example, in diagnosis of cardiac abnormalities, cerebral blood flow studies, pulmonary function studies and muscle blood flow studies. Such gases are usually dissolved in a saline solution in order that they may be administered intravenously into a patient's blood stream. Because such gases as Xenon are not readily soluble in a solution, it is important that any solution containing the gas be entirely enclosed and not open to any air space. This presents a problem in packaging where an ampule must be sterilized by heat since any heat applied to the ampule will necessarily cause the solution containing the soluble gas to expand.
A further problem arising when conventional ampules are used in the packaging of solutions which should be kept from contact with air is that only one dose may be taken from the ampule with the remainder of the solution then thrown away. This can be extremely wasteful and expensive and even dangerous when the solutions comprise a radioactive material such as Xenon. It is therefore an object of my invention to provide for a novel ampule construction which may be subjected to autoclaving to insure complete terminal sterilization of the ampule and to also provide for an ampule construction which may hold a plurality of dosages such that individual dosages may be removed from the ampule without contaminating the remainder of the dosages left in the ampule with air.